Traditionally, foods such as egg rolls and similar food items which include a filling or stuffing wrapped in a sheet of dough have been made by hand. Prior attempts to make such items by machines have produced food items that do not have the traditional shape and appearance which the consumer has come to expect in such a food item. Since appearance is so important in the consumers' acceptance of food items, machine-made foods such as egg rolls that do not have the traditional shape of a handmade egg roll have not been successful. Other attempts to form traditionally shaped egg rolls have resulted in complicated and hard to maintain machines which have not been economical to build or operate.
Therefore, this invention is concerned with a method for the continuous manufacture of traditionally shaped egg rolls and a simplified apparatus for efficiently performing the method of the invention.
An object of this invention is a method and apparatus which will rapidly produce a tightly folded egg roll of traditional shape.
Another object of the invention is an apparatus for producing egg rolls in which the speed of the apparatus can easily be adjusted to allow for variances in the consistency, size and shape of the ingredients being formed into the egg roll.
Other objects will become apparent from the following specification, claims and drawings.